After staff cuts, librarians doing double duty

The district significantly reduced the number of elementary school librarians, forcing each of these highly trained professionals to cover two schools in 2013-14.

By Joe CallahanStaff writer

It was 9:30 a.m. sharp Wednesday when Cheryl Minotti's second-grade class filed into the Saddlewood Elementary School library to return books.After librarian assistant Michelle Ramos scanned each child's books into a computer, she told them to carry the books to one of many tables and await her instructions.Minutes later, Ramos told the children to put certain types of books in the middle of the table and hold onto the rest. That's when she ordered students to shelve those books they kept in their hands.This is the first year that Saddlewood students have been asked to help shelve books. Though it is a task that will help them navigate a library, as well as learn the Dewey Decimal System, the assignment is really meant to help library staff save time.Time for library staff is more precious than ever in Marion County elementary schools. That's because the district significantly reduced the number of elementary school librarians, forcing each of these highly trained professionals to cover two schools in 2013-14.Each librarian must have a bachelor's degree and be state certified, like any other teacher. But unlike most teachers, they are splitting time at two schools.Gloria Rowley serves as the librarian at both Saddlewood and Marion Oaks elementary schools. The two schools combined have 33,000 books that are checked out nearly 110,000 times during a 180-day school year.She must keep up with two separate school library budgets, two book fair budgets, and manage two state stipends to purchase new books. She must meet different expectations from two principals, both of whom will be evaluating her performance.And she only has two library technicians, one at each school, helping her navigate the waterfall of tasks: ordering books, repairing books, organizing book events and much more.On top of all that, this year librarians are expected to teach more, as school districts statewide head down a new curriculum road known as Common Core State Standards.Rowley, who was working at Marion Oaks on Wednesday, said there isn't enough time in a day for her to complete all of her tasks, even with the help of her dedicated veteran assistants.Most every day she is at one of the schools until 5 p.m. or later trying to catch up. After all, you can't take the library home with you.She feels like she shouldn't complain. She sees that most every classroom teacher at her two schools must teach one physical education class per week now that the district has assigned only one PE coach to each elementary school.She also sees that music and art teachers, like librarians, are also sharing elementary schools.But though she doesn't want to complain about her workload, she did say cutting librarians will hurt."The children will be affected, there is no doubt about it," Rowley said.At Saddlewood, Minotti said, every classroom now has only one set time period per week to check out and return books. Last year, she brought students to the library several times weekly. She has many students who beg to go to library more often."Many of my students want to go several times a week," she said, adding the cuts are negatively affecting student reading time at home.Today's school librarians spend their days teaching children critical thinking skills. They teach students how to evaluate research sources, once found on microfilm or in encyclopedias and now on the World Wide Web."What we do is very, very important," said Miriam Needham, the district's coordinator of library media services.Though Needham said she knows that district administrators wish they didn't have to resort to these cutbacks, it will affect student learning."This is not just a Marion County problem, it is a national problem," Needham said. "It will be a detriment to our children."She pointed to a Library Research Service study in Colorado, which found a link between higher student reading scores and schools with full-time librarians."We found that students at schools that gained or maintained an endorsed librarian to manage the library program averaged higher (state) reading scores and higher increases in those scores over time than students at schools whose library programs were run by either non-endorsed librarians or library assistants," the report concluded.Needham noted that for years the district has been freezing open librarian positions, forcing some elementary schools to share.Several years ago, administrators cut one of the two librarians at each of the secondary schools. In fact, one librarian currently handles the West Port High library, which serves 2,500 students.Needham said the cuts will hurt because librarians will have half as much time teaching students.Librarians create programs at their schools to drive reading, a critical skill necessary in FCAT testing.Low reading levels on FCATs keep a student from passing third grade or older students from graduating.Librarians are responsible for keeping up with a school's book collection and making sure adequate material is on the shelves.Saddlewood Principal Jennifer Beck is thankful she has Rowley, whom she called a very dedicated librarian.Rowley works Thursday through Wednesday at Saddlewood one week and the same days at Marion Oaks the following week. They are two of the four largest elementary schools in Marion, with a combined enrolment of 1,622.Saddlewood is the county's largest elementary school with 872 students and Marion Oaks has 750 students, just shy of Hammett-Bowen's 765 and Sunrise's 755.Marion Oaks Principal Gary Smallridge said he has worked with Rowley to make sure every class at his school has 40 minutes of time every week to check in and out books. That can be done on the days with or without the librarian.During the time Rowley is at the school, teachers must sign up to receive their specific instruction."Do I wish we could go back like we were? Sure." Smallridge said. "But that is not the reality right now. We can only do the best that we can and Ms. Rowley has been great through it all."Facing a $29 million budget shortfall, Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn announced in May the layoffs of 261 people, most of whom have since been offered jobs back with the district. Tomyn cut half the elementary PE coaches and librarians as well as art and music teachers."It's going to negatively affect our students if we are not able to restore these positions on down the line," Needham said.Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter at JoeOcalanews.

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